BlackRock’s spot BTC ETF, IBIT, has performed remarkably well, amassing significant assets since its launch in January. IBIT now holds 347,767 BTC, making it the world’s third-largest Bitcoin holder.
Moreover, IBIT has already overtaken Grayscale’s GBTC as the largest Bitcoin fund in the financial market. If the asset accumulation continues, IBIT could overtake Satoshi Nakomoto’s Bitcoin holdings within a year.
Can IBIT Surpass Satoshi’s Holdings?
In an August 12 X post, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, listed the top 10 Bitcoin holders globally.
Didn’t realize US ETFs are on track to pass Satoshi in bitcoin held in October. BlackRock alone is already #3 and on pace to be #1 late next year, and will likely stay there for a very long time Ht @EdmondsonShaun pic.twitter.com/QGsO00zrxp
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 12, 2024
According to the list, BlockRock’s spot BTC ETF, IBIT, is the third-largest holder with 347,767 BTC under its management. The only Bitcoin holders ahead of IBIT are Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, who has 1.1 million BTC, and the crypto exchange Binance, which has 550,133 BTC.
Therefore, Balchunas inferred that IBIT is poised to take the number spot over the next year. US spot BTC ETFs have generally performed beyond expectation since their January launch.
In addition to IBIT, Grayscale’s two Bitcoin funds and Fidelity’s FBTC are among Balchuna’s top 10 BTC holders.
As of August 9, GTBC held 233,839.5 BTC, while FBTC had 176,623.1. The three funds combined have 758,229.6 Bitcoins. If all things remain equal, their combined Bitcoin holdings could overtake Satoshi Nakomoto’s BTC by October 2024.
Meanwhile, to match Satoshi’s Bitcoin holdings by next year, IBIT must acquire over 600,000 BTC.
Spot Bitcoin ETF Market Outlook in the US
Capital flows into the US BTC ETFs have been volatile the past week with massive outflows. However, the funds opened this week positively, with more than $27 million in inflows recorded yesterday, August 13.
The Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, ARKB, led the inflow streak at $35.4 million. BlackRock’s IBIT followed with $13.4 million in inflow, while Bitwise’s BITB and Grayscale’s GBTC recorded outflows.
GBTC had outflows of $11.8 million, and BITB recorded $17.1 million in outflows.
Meanwhile, the race for approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF options trading is ongoing. The NYSE, Nasdaq, and the CBOE filed for approval from the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) to list options for the BTC ETFs. However, the SEC has not approved nor denied the requests.
Miami International Securities Exchange and BOX Exchange have withdrawn their requests to list the spot BTC ETF options. The CBOE remains resolute.
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Jeff Seyffart, CBOE withdrew its previous filing and refiled a new one with modifications.
What does this mean?
The original filing was only 15 pages. This new one has a lot more meat to it at 44 pages. To me it means that the SEC likely gave some sort of feedback? Which looks like it was related to position limits and market manipulation concerns pic.twitter.com/65TL44c29i
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) August 8, 2024
In its new filing, the CBOE proposed a rule change to allow it to list and trade Bitcoin ETF options on units representing the interests of the spot BTC ETFs.
This rule change applies to spot Bitcoin ETFs of Invesco, Fidelity, Ark/21Shares, VanEck, Franklin Templeton, BlackRock’s IBIT, Bitwise, Grayscale’s GBTC, and Valkyrie.
The CBOE wants units of interest from these ETFs to be “deemed appropriate for options trading” on its platform.
Bitcoin has recovered moderately from the recent slump, trading around $59,000 with a negligible uptick in the last 24 hours. Over the past week, the price of BTC has increased by nearly 7%.
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